A Moncton condominium corporation has obtained an order stopping two owners from renting or leasing to non-family members while continuing to live in their units, after a New Brunswick judge upheld the corporation’s interpretation of its own declaration.

Justice J. Danie Roy issued the August 12, 2026 decision in Westmorland County Condominium Corporation No. 85 v. Caroll Forde & Donald Albert, 2026 NBKB 164, in the Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick. Each owner was ordered to pay $1,500 in costs.

The decision turns on this corporation’s governing documents and the arrangements before the court. It is not a province-wide ban on roommates or ordinary guests, and it does not prohibit leasing a whole unit in accordance with the declaration.

Declaration takes priority over a seemingly permissive bylaw

The corporation argued that renting rooms to non-family members while an owner remained in residence conflicted with the declaration’s requirement that each unit be used as a single-family residence.

Forde and Albert disputed that reading. They pointed to provisions allowing units to be leased and a bylaw addressing occupation or board by up to two people, provided the charges were not commercial or profit-making.

Roy applied a reasonableness approach to the corporation’s interpretation of its declaration and bylaws. Drawing on condominium authorities, she found the interpretation reasonable because it focused on how the units were being used. New Brunswick’s Condominium Property Act also requires bylaws to be consistent with the declaration.

The seemingly permissive bylaw therefore did not defeat the declaration’s single-family-use requirement. Nor did the separate permission to lease an entire unit. That permission came with conditions, including a lease of at least one year, notice to the corporation and a tenant covenant to comply with the governing documents.

Calling a recurring arrangement a guest visit did not change its nature

The court found that Forde was renting or leasing part of her unit to non-family members while continuing to live there. Albert had a recurring arrangement under which another person stayed from September to April each year.

Albert argued that the person was now a friend or guest rather than a roomer. Roy found that changing the description did not change the arrangement’s character. It was systematic, lasted eight months annually and included periods of exclusive occupation while Albert was away. It also did not meet the declaration’s conditions for a permitted lease.

The court ordered both owners to stop the non-compliant use and prohibited them from renting or leasing to non-family members while continuing to reside in their units.

The corporation had previously warned of $800 monthly fines. Roy noted that neither side identified a provision authorizing those fines in these circumstances. The judgment did not impose them.

Language choice excluded from costs assessment

In seeking costs, the corporation argued that Albert’s request to proceed in French had caused an adjournment. Roy expressly rejected that submission.

The judge emphasized the constitutional and statutory right to use either official language in New Brunswick courts. The choice of French had no significance in her costs assessment and should not have been advanced as a reason for costs.

The corporation’s success and, separately, Albert’s late filing of submissions were considered. The resulting order was $1,500 against Forde and $1,500 against Albert, not a penalty for exercising language rights.